Reality Check

The reality is that the Indian team is completely different while touring overseas. 2007 was the year when India was outperformed badly by underdogs and knocked out of the World Cup earlier than anyone could possibly expect. That was a year when the Indian team’s inability to face the short ball was exploited the most. It seems like the India team haven’t learned their lesson from recent history. The only difference now though is an extremely average bowling attack and a much-improved batting line up. As former India Captain, Sourav Ganguly once remarked, India winning in conditions where the pitches cater to spin with a line of spinners shouldn’t quite be considered as major wins. They remain in the backyard. The strengths are known. However, it is the weaknesses that need to be addressed.

There is no doubt that India have put in a lot of hard work in their fight against Australia. The third ODI remains a nail biter and the fourth though a disappointment was definitely a positive fight back. Senior players such as Rohit and Virat have been consistent with their form. Ajinkya Rahane too has showed support in the middle order and Shikhar has finally found his form. However, the last ODI did display India’s weakness in handling a situation in crisis though victory was only whiskers away. The game was a rare example of how one should bat and one should not bat during a big chase in the fifty over format.